P3R1
by Captain Gloom
Summary: An alien invasion is on the horizon, and there's no one to stop them. This is the story of unit P3R1., and its discovery of the world, and itself.
1. Chapter 1 Personality Matrix

(Greetings everyone!

Here's the first chapter of my newest story! This is just a draft, I'll be re-working it in the future, so please tell me how I can improve. Thanks for reading!)

It was a normal day on planet earth. The people were living their lives, the world was spinning, and everyone was fairly happy. This was about to change, for up high, orbiting Earth, was an alien spaceship. It was in the shape of a large grey hand, its metal shone in the light of the sun. In it, in a small room, too dark for anything to be seen except for the cylindrical pod standing upright, bolted to the wall. A light flashed from a bulb in the ceiling, alarms sounded, and cold mist began to shroud inside the pod.

There was a hiss, and the pod opened, the mist pouring out of it. There was a click and a hum, then a green triangle glowed in the shroud. A feminine robotic voice spoke.

"Start-up sequence complete. Unit P3R1. Online. Running systems diagnosis. Power core, online. Motor functions, online. Weapon systems, online. Voice module, online, Personality Matrix, offline."

The robot stepped out of its pod. It was taller than most humans, it was plated in a green shiny metal everywhere except for what a human would call hair. On its 'head' it had a large yellow plated triangle, meant for dispersing the heat of the power core and the central computers. Its eyes were camera lenses, light up green like headlights. Its mouth was strange, it was made of metal, yet moved like flesh. Its arms and legs were thin, but ended in large feet and hands. Its green fingers hovered a bit below the flat bases of the hands. It stood there, waiting for commands, alone in the small, dark space. Before long, a door opened, and a shadowy figure marched up to P3R1. It inspected it for a moment, before leaving it alone in the room again.

"Orders received. Calculating route to objective." It whirred for a moment. "Calculation completed. Route planned. Taking route to objective."

The robot began to move, slowly, and clunky. It walked to a another grey metal cylinder in a corner of the small room, and raised its right arm. The fingers floated towards a panel on the cylinder, and tapped away at different buttons. Dim red lights shone, bringing a low light to the room, showing just how cramped it was. It was about five meters in length and width, and filled with machinery. The fingers retracted, and cylinder opened with a hiss. The P3R1. Unit stepped in, and turned to face the room.

"Starting launch sequence." It said. A low rumble began sound, and the room shook. The cylinder closed, leaving the robot in what would have been pitch black if it wasn't for the lights in its eyes.

"Launching in 3.. 2.. 1" There was a shake, and the cylinder dropped from the room. It soared down a metallic tunnel, then into nothingness. One side of the cylinder turned transparent, and P3R1. Unit could see the spaceship it had once been in. It turned its head, and observed the objective. It was a planet, below average size. It was blue, green, and white. It was Earth.

The Pod began to fall away from the ship, and towards the planet. The heat began to rise, a warning alarm sounded, and the pod turned opaque.

"Adjusting route." The P3R1. Unit said. "Route fou-" The pod rocked, making the robot smack the back of its head against the cold metal of the landing pod.

"Personality Matrix…. Online." It said. Consciousness flooded it, it took a moment to come to terms with its self-awareness, but when it did, it made no difference. It had a job to do, a job it believed in. A warning sign in an alien language appeared in the robot's vision. It roughly translated to 'Warning: damage to hull detected. Landing Pod C8 will open prematurely at 5000 meters above the surface, authorisation code: 05D-3XC'

Another warning appeared, this one that the distance to the surface was reaching 5000 metres. There was a crack, and the pod split cleanly in half. The robot did something as close as a robot could to flinching, before the two halves of the pod flipped outwards, leaving P3R1. Unit in the vast dark sky, falling towards the Earth. It could see the lights of a town below it. The ocean on either side, and it ended at a hill. It planned its course down, into the grasslands further inland, and initiated configuration 'heli' on its floating fingers. The fingers formed lines, which began to spin on the flat palms. P3R1. Unit smiled a little, as its speed towards the ground began to drop. This smile was wiped as it hit the ground with tremendous force, making a large crater.

It took the P3R1. Unit a few seconds to bring its personality matrix back to reality. It scanned itself and assessed the damages. Its right leg was in pieces, and its head was caved in. Luckily, the power core wasn't broken, cracked, or even touched. It configured its right arm into a blow torch, the fingers in a straight line coming off the palm, except the last finger, which was bent down a little. A small flame shone out of the end of the bent finger. The robot spent the next half an hour getting itself back in working condition, un-denting, rewiring, and fixing its broken parts. As it did this it accessed all the known knowledge on the human race, the dominant species on the planet. The database informed P3R1. Unit that the human race was a simplistic self-centred species, all of them only did things for themselves. P3R1 frowned as it reflected this. Such a primitive, barbaric race, it thought, they knew nothing of serving other. P3R1 smiled. It knew what it meant to serve, it did it every moment of its existence. It's what it was made to do. It finished the repairs, and stood up, testing its newly reformed leg. When it was satisfied with its efficiency, it slowly climbed out of the smoking crater.

The lights from the town and from the moon made the ocean sparkle, like a thousand fireworks were exploding under the waves. P3R1 stared at it for a while, until something happened. It was strange, unlike anything that had ever happened to it before. It did a system scan, which came up with no problems, no faults. P3R1. Unit was perplexed by this strange indescribable _thing_ that had just happened. It was feeling. P3R1. Unit purged these thoughts from its database. It had no time for this, it had a job to do.

"Activating hologram shell." It said. After a moment, the robot flickered, then it began to shine, bright white light pouring out of every surface. When the light slowly died out, the robot was gone, and a woman stood there. She had big yellow hair in the shape of a triangle, she wore glasses with green lenses. Her skin was quite pale, like she'd never been out in the sun before. She wore a bored expression, her eyes were unblinking, her mouth was a slight frown. She wore a green t-shirt with a comical alien head on it, and long dark blue jeans.

P3R1. Unit looked out at the city. It analysed, and found the target, a power station crucial to the electricity system of the town. When it was eliminated, the town would be thrown into chaos, and if the other units around the globe did their jobs, so would the world, allowing the invasion to occur without resistance. P3R1. Unit smiled, and began walking towards the town.


	2. Chapter 2 Risk of Revolt

(Greetings everyone!

This is just a notification that there's a reason that the gender pronouns of P3R1 changes. That will be all, thank you. )

P3R1 was almost at the city centre when she received the signal, a whining, high pitch sound that wouldn't go away. It was from the main armada of her masters. The mission was still operational, clearance to carry out objective was gained. P3R1. Unit smiled, then got up from the park bench she had been sitting at in the area designated as 'Dewey Park'. It had been exactly seven hours since she landed on Earth, the sun was off the horizon and making its way through the sky, and not a single human knew she wasn't one of them. She smiled, humans were such dumb creatures, so focused on personal gains that they don't see death at their doorstep, literally. She walked straight ahead, towards the boardwalk. There was a road in her way, many cars passing both ways, humans with places to be, and inconsequential things to do operating them. She looked left and right, analysing when it would be safe to cross without being hit, when she saw her.

A woman stood on the side walk at the corner of the park, walking towards her. She had deep blue, chin length, hair, obviously dyed. She was tall and thin, her deep blue eyes complimented her hair, but her bright red blushing cheeks did not. Her eyes were a bit wider than the surrounding humans, she kept looking at P3R1, then looking away. She wore a black hoodie, and long blue jeans. P3R1 could see the silver glint of a necklace, but she couldn't see what it was exactly. P3R1 calculated the risk of detection would increase dramatically if this human attempted to converse with her, so she walked onto the road, and immediately regretted the decision, as she heard the horn of the truck, and saw it too late.

Most computers created by P3R1's masters could run at rates much faster than a human could think, so everything that happened, P3R1 could process and understand, even if she couldn't do anything about it, like slow motion. She was standing there on the road, wide eyed and shocked. She calculated the chances of getting out before being hit, knowing the hologram would most certainly be destroyed, and her cover would be blown. The calculations came back, there was no way she could get out of this situation without damage, so she prepared to drop the hologram and switch her hands to blaster formation, but the feeling of force on her back changed everything. P3R1 couldn't see what had hit her until she had flown out of the way of the truck and onto the other side of the road, where cars had stopped already. The girl, the one with blue hair, had run onto the road and pushed her out of the way. Her crumpled body laid there, P3R1 didn't have to do a scan to know she wouldn't survive. She sat there for a few moments, completely speechless, until a crowd began to gather, so she got up and ran. She didn't run towards the objective, which was to the east, but to the west, and the grass lands and forests.

She kept running and running, trying hard not to think of what had just happened. She finally stopped when she reached a large, rotten, hollow tree stump. She sat in it, disengaged the hologram, and thought of what had just happened. P3R1 couldn't give reason to what had happened, to why that human sacrificed herself to save them. Every piece of knowledge that P3R1 had told it that humans didn't do anything that didn't benefit themselves, but this was clear evidence that that knowledge was false. What other knowledge that they had given it was false? P3R1 felt the need to laugh, even if it was a mimicry. "This is why we're never allowed our personality matrixes on, isn't it? The increased problem solving is an advantage, but the risk of revolt is too high, the risk of questioning orders… but we can't function at all without the option being available, so the risk has to be taken."

P3R1 looked around, at the rich green plants, and the rich living planet that it had been sent to help destroy. Maybe I should do my own research, it thought. Like it had been listening, the signal from the armada grew stronger, the whining high pitch sound growing so loud P3R1 screamed. The signal ordered it to return to the town and finish the objective, or it would be terminated when the invasion occurs. The green robot re-programmed its transition receiver in seconds, so it could hear the orders, but not be forced to follow them. P3R1 smirked as it heard the commanders rage. It stopped as it analysed its recent behaviour. The flinch while on route to the planet, the facial expressions it felt the need to do, the fact that it 'felt' at all. It guessed that its personality matrix was much stronger that it had first imagined. P3R1 stood up, and stepped out of the tree stump, a whole new existence in front of it, no rules, no leader, just a robot and a planet of knowledge to collect, and an existence to contemplate.

It spent weeks in the forests, looking at trees, flowers, and the animals that lived there. It was peaceful, and P3R1 felt something, it felt, peaceful. It was a strange thing, a good thing, that P3R1 didn't want to go away. During the few weeks, the armada's invasion was delayed, as one unit failing to complete their task could mean the loss of the element of surprise. P3R1 discovered much during its time in the forest. So much data was updated, as well as many new entries. One such example was the change of the seasons. It just caught the shift from spring to autumn, the leaves began to turn browns and oranges. It was analysing one such leaf, when it intercepted a signal from the armada, a signal that froze P3R1. It was an attack order. They'd figured out that they weren't discovered yet, so now they were launching the attack.

P3R1 rushed to the edge of the forest, and observed. High up in the sky, a ship was slowly descending. It was the original grey hand, the ship P3R1 came on. There was no time to waste, the world needed saving, which was an impossible task for one unit to do, so saving one town would have to do. P3R1 sprinted forward, reforming both its hands into helicopter formation, and it shot up into the sky. As it flew, plans rushed through its head. How was it going to stop the planet from being taken over and destroyed? There was no way that P3R1 could get to the other ships, let alone defeat them all. If all of them, or at least more than one, was in the same place, then things would be different.


	3. Chapter 3 Rogue Robot

The ship was approaching fast, so P3R1 reformatted its right arm into blaster form, charged a shot, and fired. It ripped through the hull, just behind the thumb, making a clear opening to get in. Even before it entered, it could hear the alarm sirens wailing. It seems they weren't expecting visitors. P3R1 rushed through cramped rooms and corridors, realising as it ran what it was doing. It was going against its masters, it was rebelling, but why? Why was it deciding to save the planet? P3R1 didn't know, and decided it could figure it out after the task was completed, so it kept running. It kept running until it reached the bridge. It was circular, a captain's seat in the middle, and three spots for other crew around the circle. All spots were filled with shady creatures. All of them got up from their seats, shocked at the sight of the rogue robot. After the moment, they reached for weapons, and P3R1 struck. It went for the closest crew member, slamming the end of the blaster into their back and firing. It noticed second crew member behind it, so it configured its left hand into a touch screen, with a high density, like a makeshift shield. It raised its left arm and block the incoming hit with a taser, of sorts, meant for decommissioning robots. P3R1 spun, and smacked the second crewmember in the face with its right arm, sending them flying across the room. It was about to advance, when a bright yellow bolt of energy tore through the robot's right foot.

P3R1 fell to one knee, and assessed the damages for a moment, but clicked back to reality, and dodged another shot meant for its head. It looked up and analysed the third crew member, holding a kind of rifle, looking scared for its life. P3R1 bolted forward, charged a shot, raised its arm, and fired, at the second crew member, who was trying to get up against the front of the bridge. The shot wiped the terrified look from its face, along with the rest of its head. The third crew member fired again, this time the blast was blocked by the screen on P3R1's left hand. However, the screen wasn't designed for blocking energy attacks, and couldn't cope. Two of the fingers exploded, and the screen faded. P3R1 charged another shot, feigned an aim at the crew member, the hit them over the head with its left bulky hand. It fell to the floor and didn't get up. It was about to finish it off when an electrified whip wrapped around its neck. It felt a pull, then it was thrown across the room, smashing into the wall behind the captains' chair.

It took a moment for P3R1 to get up, and assess the damages. Its right foot was wrecked, its left hand was missing two fingers, and the whip had crushed its neck slightly. If this fight continued, P3R1 calculated that it wouldn't win. It dashed left, avoiding a swing from the whip, and charged a shot. It aimed and fired. The captain skilfully dodged, and the shot hit a set of controls that one of the crew had been using. It fizzed, popped, and crackled. The ship veered forward, over the town, until it was positioned over the hill at the end. As the controls kept deteriorating, the malfunctions of the ship got worse, until suddenly, the alarm died, the warning lights died, all the electronics of the ship powered down, including the engines.

P3R1 felt the ship begin to fall from the sky, and decided it was time to leave, so it threw itself to the door it came in though, and started the journey to the entry spot, leaving the captain flailing in the bridge. It moved through hallways and rooms, till it found the hole. It was burning quite furiously; the green robot could barely see the outside world. It calculated the chance of getting out without permanent damage. Frowning at the odds, it turned away, and tried to think of another way out. The image of the cramped room that it first came online for the Earth mission came into its mind. It rendered the course, and began moving.

The ship was getting closer to the ground now, P3R1 calculated a chance of surviving the fall while in the ship as lower than it was comfortable with taking. It reached the room, still just as dark as it had ever been. P3R1 found the closed hatch that was once covered by the landing pod, and began to try to pry it open with its fingers. With the loss of two of them, the fingers could only just get it open, and the wind blasted through the hatch. Without a second thought, P3R1 jumped through the hatch, but slammed the front of its head against the hull. Something was holding its left leg inside the ship. P3R1 felt itself being pulled back inside, so it grasped any part of the hull that it could to keep itself outside. It felt whatever was pulling it release its grip, and the green robot shot out of the hatch, and into the roaring winds. It looked back, and saw the captain reaching out for P3R1, as the ship kept falling. It looked down, at the hill below it, racing to meet it. It decided it could think of what had just happened when it was safely not plummeting to its doom, so it set both hands to helicopter formation, and attempted to slow down. What it found instead, was that the fingers were no longer around, it didn't have enough power to keep them powered and useable. How was that possible, unless…

A system analysis determined that the power core, the green, triangular, glowing vital system on P3R1's forehead, had been cracked ever since it hit it against the ship's hull, but an error message failed to appear, due to another error. The green robot cursed, and tried to figure out a way to slow down before it hit the ground. After five agonising minutes, and over half the distance to the ground covered, it concluded that there was nothing that could be done. No systems could be starved of power to get the fingers back, or P3R1 wouldn't be able to function at a high enough standard to save itself. There was nothing around to help reduce speed. There was no hope. It calculated that due to its current damaged state, it would most certainly expire when it hit the ground. P3R1 thought about that girl that sacrificed herself. If only I'd talked to her, the robot thought, as it hit the ground.

(So, another chapter down, but this is not the end, not yet. Stay tuned, for the fight is far from over.)


	4. Chapter 4 Past stupidity

(Greetings everyone!

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. University assignments hit me like a brick wall. I'm not going to be able to post these chapters anywhere near as fast in the future. It seems no one got the joke with P3R1. Unit's name, so I'm reducing it to just P3R1. Please do tell me what you think, or how I can improve. Thank you!)

The hospital front door opened with a whir, the warm midday air rushed inside, and the woman walked out. Her blue hair was messy, and the dye was beginning to fade, revealing its true, dark colour. Her right arm was encased in a cast, with lots of signatures and 'get well soon' messages scribbled all over it. In her other arm was a crutch, one she used to help stand up, as her right leg was quite badly bruised. Not enough for a cast, but still damaged. She walked outside, and breathed deeply. It was good to finally be free, after so many weeks, she thought. She'd been given a real talking to by her friends, for diving onto the road for a girl, who ran away, never to be seen again. She stopped for a moment, and wondered what that girl was up to. Did she regret what happened? Did she even remember her? She kept asking similar questions as she walked, until she realised all the people around her was looking up, at a shadow in the sky. She looked up too, and saw it. It was a great, big, grey hand, just floating there, high in the sky. She could vaguely see something behind the thumb, like a hole, or something. The people stood there, not knowing what to do, or what they even _could_ do. Without warning, there was a rumble, and the hand veered to the right, passing over the city, and over the hill at the edge of town. The girl just kept standing there, not sure what to do, like an actor missing their line. Like a cue, the ship seemed to shudder a little, like it got cold, up there, so high in the sky, then it began to fall.

The girl walked towards the hill as fast as she was permitted to go while in her cast and using her cane, while everyone else went in the opposite direction. She wanted to know what it was, she wanted to know what happened to it, and most importantly, she wanted to forget how stupid she had been a few weeks ago. She kept her eyes on the ship as she walked, and noticed something. Something detached from the hand, it was hard to see, but she could tell it was green, different to the rest of the grey of the giant hand. Its trajectory was far off from that of the ship. The girl figured out that it would land on the beach, not too far away from the ship, so she headed for the beach. Before she got there, she felt what seemed to be an earthquake, but she knew it was the ship. It had hit the ground. She stepped onto the warm sand, and surveyed the length of the beach. She immediately spotted the smaller crater, it seems it hit the ground first, just in front of the cliff face. The ship had crashed just above it, and a damaged finger was hanging off the side, threatening to fall off and crush the smaller crater. She peered into the smoking depression, and her eyes opened wide in surprise.

What she saw, it seemed like a joke. A cruel joke someone was playing on her, teasing her for her past stupidity. It was the girl she'd saved, but she was different. Her skin was green and metallic, her eyes were like cracked lightbulbs, her hair was a solid piece of yellow metal, on her forehead was a strange, glowing green triangle, with a large crack going from the right corner diagonally. Most different, was that her head was detached from her crumpled body. She slowly eased her way down the slope of the hole, almost falling over a few times. She reached the bottom, and hesitated for a moment, not sure what it was she hoped to achieve there. She tapped the head of the thing with her cane, when she couldn't think of anything better to do. It whirred to life at the touch, making her jump back. Sparks flew from the wires in its broken neck, which was moving almost in spasms. A light shone in its eyes, which moved, and stared at her. Its eyes widened a little, then the head flickered a little. For a split second, the girl swore she saw the face of the girl she'd saved, but it was gone in an instant, and back to the robot's face. The girl sighed, she was going to need some help getting this thing out of there. She put her cane under her arm, and with now free arm, she fished for her phone in her pocket.

P3R1. Unit awoke with a jump, or as much as a head can, and by sheer habit, performed a systems diagnosis. "Unit P3R1. Online. Running systems diagnosis. Power core, online, with major damages. Motor functions, offline. Weapon systems, offline. Voice module, online, Personality Matrix, online. Warning, major damages detected."

It hesitated for a moment. It didn't know where it was. The lights in its eyes shone brighter, and it saw. It was in a garage, of sorts. It was rectangular, and P3R1 was on one of the larger sides facing the rest of the room. It could hear the sounds of a strong wind buffering the tin roof. In front of it, it could see a work bench with tools, and something large on it. It took a moment for P3R1 to register what it was. It was its right arm, fingers and all. It could see that the arm had been modified. It had a crude handle at the elbow, and some form of sight bolted to it at the back of the forearm. It was set in blaster form, and looked like it had misfired a few times, the garage had burn marks to prove it. P3R1 could think of a thousand ways to improve on the design of the makeshift weapon, but most of them needed resources that earth did not have. As it was thinking, it heard a door open, and four figures walked in. P3R1 couldn't see them properly until they were all standing in front of it, but when it could, it could see them perfectly.

The fist was the blue haired girl. She wore a grey tank top and the same blue jeans as before. Her hair seemed messier than the first time it saw her. The three others were quite different, yet similar to her at the same time. One was thin, one was short, and one was big, all were female, all seemed quite worried. The big one was tall, dark, and very muscular. She wore an odd visor, it was two triangles, one for each eye, was quite large, to the point that it covered her forehead, and was very reflective. P3R1 could see itself in the reflection, and saw just how beat up what remained of it was. The big woman's hair was dark and flowed from her head like a waterfall. She wore light blue jeans, a white shirt, and an open black leather jacket. The shorter one had the tips of her long, dark brown hair dyed purple. She wore faded purple tracksuit pants, and a black T-shirt. She seemed to be the most curious of the bunch about the banged-up robot head in their garage. She looked at P3R1 with a strange wonderment. The third woman, the tallest, seemed to be both the plainest, and the most abnormal of them. She was thin, and slender. She had near ivory skin and light blue eyes. Her nose was quite longer than any human P3R1 had ever seen before. She wore a light blue polo shirt, and dark blue trousers. Her hair was peachy pink, and seemed to have been dyed in the past, but was now beginning to fade. The strangest thing about her was the silver crown, sitting on her hair ever so gently. It was very thin, except for the shiny rock that was encrusted in the front. A quick scan indicated that it was a rather large pearl. Now that P3R1 noticed, all of the four women had some form of accessory in this style. The short one had a silver necklace, with a pendant made of a circular purple gem. It was clear to P3R1 that this necklace was far more crudely made than the others. The tall one had two bracelets, one had a deep blue gem, the other had a red gem. The silver glinting that P3R1 could see before on the girl with the blue hair was a necklace, a short silver necklace, just like the smaller woman. On it was a deep blue gem in the shape of a tear drop. Another scan said that the short one's gem was an Amethyst, the tall one's gems were a sapphire and a ruby, and the blue haired girl's gem was a Lapis Lazuli.

P3R1 felt the need to say something, anything to break the silence. "L-L-L-Lapis Lazuli…"

As it finished an error appeared. There was something wrong with the code for the voice modulator, a minor file had become corrupt, most likely from the crash. For the time being, it wouldn't be a problem, so P3R1 left it alone. It knew it was going to need its voice right now.

The four women were surprised. Whether it was to the fact that the robot spoke, or that it chose to say those words was debatable. The tall, short, and big ones looked at the blue haired girl, who was blushing quite hard. The big one laughed. "It seems it already knows your code name, Lapis."

"Identity confirmed, Lapis." P3R1 said. It was trying to hide its sentience, a task it found harder than it would seem. If it turned it off, it didn't know if it would be able to turn it back on, so it went with its programming, for now.

"Interesting, it understands voices." The tall one said. It moved a little closer to P3R1, observing all the movements its eyes made. The big one flinched. "Pearl, don't go near that thing, we don't know enough about it."

"Identity confirmed, Pearl. Establishing trend. Identity hypothesised, Amethyst. Identity…. Unknown." It looked at the big woman. She was frowning. P3R1 didn't like that it couldn't see her eyes. She seemed, mysterious. The short one laughed, and Pearl looked back at her. "Amethyst! Could you please be serious? We can't let it know our code names!"

"Identity confirmed, Amethyst." Pearl looked back at P3R1's head, a look of defeat in her eyes. Amethyst roared in laughter, to the point she almost fell over. The tall one walked right up to P3R1, and loomed over it. It could tell she was trying to be intimidating. It was working. She took off her visor, are revealed the reason it covered her forehead. At first it looked like a third eye, it was so realistic, but after a moment, P3R1 could tell that it was a tattoo, and not a real eye on her forehead. It was a very decorative tattoo, a hyper realistic eye in the centre, with blue and red fractals around it. She leaned in, till she almost touched the robot's head with her own. She looked at P3R1 for a while, it wondered if she knew that it was sentient. "I know. My name is Garnet. My friends and I saved you from the wreckage. You're going to tell us all about yourself, who you work for, and what your goal is. I don't know anything about you, and when I don't know something, it's been hidden very, very well. But it won't stay that way for long."

"Why… should I help… you?" P3R1 replied. Its power was fluctuating. It didn't know how long it had till it expired. Garnet smiled. "Because we can keep you alive, and possibly get you fixed."

P3R1 smiled. Not a simulation, not a cold imitation, it actually smiled.


	5. Chapter 5 Against the clock

(Greetings everyone!

I'd just like to say thank you all so much for reading my stories! It's been an absolute pleasure to write for you all. Don't worry, I'm not stopping, but it is going to be a lot slower in the future, as I've pretty much ran out of my ideas, for now.

Btw I'm using female pronouns for P3R1 again, because she's more alive now than she ever was in the past, and as such feels differently about herself.)

P3R1 spent a few weeks with the group of humans. They called themselves 'The Crystal Gems'. P3R1 thought that was stupid. They were never able to fix her head back onto her body. The damage was just too extensive. The first two days were spent getting each part up to date on each other's history. P3R1 told them of her mission to earth, being pushed to safety by Lapis, going against her orders, then betraying her creators. They seemed to like this prospect of her rebelling against tyranny, so she played it up to the fullest. She told them of her 'heroic assault on those who would end all life on Earth.' However, not even she knew the full reason she turned her back on those that gave her life. She doubted she ever would, but at least she had a story to tell, for now.

In return, the Crystal Gems told her of their fight against a human organisation, called 'The Diamond Authority'. Its highest members were made up of four families, which were led by four mothers. The Crystal Gems didn't know their true names, so they code named them: White, Blue, Yellow, and Pink Diamond. The organisation dabbled in all kinds of business; defence, science, engineering, politics, the list went on. The Crystal Gems knew that they were more crooked and corrupt than most, since they were all part of the family once. They went way further in depth, of a secret war, horrible experiments, and much more. P3R1 was reminded of what she was told of humanity. The fact that the Crystal Gems existed proved that her creators were wrong.

The third day was when the Crystal Gems fixed her signal transceiver, and picked up a message from the armada. They knew that the ship in Beach City wasn't responding, and gave it a week to respond, or they'd continue with the plan, and send a half a dozen ships to Beach City. The race against the clock was on.

The fourth day was a day of planning. What were they going to do? What COULD they do? The ship was still at the hill, the residents of Beach City were slowly coming back, day by day. No sign of the army, yet. They hatched an idea. It was going to take a lot of work, in a small amount of time, but as the Crystal Gems kept saying, "We'll always find a way."

It was on the fifth day that P3R1 was introduced to Steven. He walked into the garage slowly, but when he saw the robot's head looking at him, his eyes seemed to sparkle. He was a very happy child. He wore a red shirt, with a big yellow star on it, and blue jeans. He wore a silver belt with a pink gem on the belt buckle. It was a Rose Quartz. P3R1 thought it was strange that he wasn't referred to by the Crystal Gems as 'Rose Quartz', until they clarified. Rose was Steven's mother. She was the leader of the Crystal Gems for a long time, until she died in child birth, the birth of Steven.

The sixth day was the first day of action. Pearl seemed to be the most intelligent when it came to engineering and science, so she and Amethyst went to search the ship for things that could be used in their plan. P3R1 couldn't go, her power core was damaged, she was living off the power grid, much to the displeasure of Pearl. Their 'electricity bills' were 'through the roof', but if she left the garage or unplugged, she'd have around an hour to live, so it was worth it. The two Crystal Gems returned with a truck load of electrical parts. P3R1 spent that night, and the next day logging and imagining a blueprint for a machine that would fit their needs.

The eighth day was Steven's birthday, so the machine could not be built. P3R1 observed the human tradition of the birthday, and learnt a lot about what humans value when it comes to their lives, and their futures. P3R1 smiled again, she was glad she didn't complete her mission. She got to see a young boy smile wider than physically possible, she got to see his eye shine brighter than any star in the sky. She saw the faces of the Crystal Gems, their love and affection for him.

During that night, P3R1 discover another dozen files was corrupted. A diagnosis determined that it was spreading, error after error, the corruption of her files would spread, and gaining speed in its infection. It determined she had only a few days left until it rendered her essentially dead. She didn't tell the Crystal Gems. They had enough problems to deal with as it was, she didn't want to be another. If they won, she could die at peace. If they lost, it's not like she would have lived any longer anyway.

The ninth day was for simulation. P3R1 simulated what would happen if they put their plan in action. It took a great strain on her processing power, but it was worth it to know what the future might have held. She did it again and again with minor changes. All of them ended in the armada destroying all life on Earth. She told the Crystal Gems of the results, but they didn't waver in their determination to try. P3R1 both hated that, and admired it. It was like a machine, but it was also more, so much more than a machine ever could be.

P3R1 spent most of that night running simulations of her corruption, the spread, what could make it better or worse. There was very little she could do. Any attempt she made to stop it, only made it worse. She could no longer remember what her creators looked like, what they sounded like. She couldn't remember what colour the leaves in the forest were. She felt something, something strong and bad inside of her. She didn't know what it was, but she wanted it gone. She couldn't make it go away. She fell deeper and deeper into the pain, until the lights snapping on snapped her out of it. It was Lapis. She was wearing pyjamas with little green 'alien' faces on them. She was still wearing the cast on her arm, but didn't need to use the cane anymore. The blue-haired girl walked to P3R1, knelt down, and looked her in the eye. Their eyes were locked for only a few moments, but it felt like an eternity for both of them. Lapis broke it first, she lowered her head, and P3R1 could hear the sounds of her crying.

"What's wrong?" P3R1 asked. She didn't like seeing Lapis like this, it made her feel bad, similar to how she had been feeling a few moments ago.

The girl wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry." She muttered. "This is all just, going so fast. I was finally getting over her, now all of this happens. I can't believe the world's going to end."

"Her?" The robot head asked. She never liked when the Crystal Gems talked like she knew everything. P3R1 stopped for a moment. Maybe they did tell me, and that file got corrupted. It was an unsettling thought, but it had to be left for now.

Lapis laughed. "It's a long story. A long, bad story."

There was an awkward pause for a few seconds, before Lapis felt the need to keep the conversation going. "So, you can do simulations?"

"Yes"

"Are you any good at it?" She seemed to be longing for something, her voice was filled with both hope and sadness.

"Yes" P3R1 replied firmly.

"If you make a simulation, is there any way I could see it?" The hope in her voice seemed to lift a bit.

"If you connected a screen to me, then yes, easily." P3R1 had no idea of she would be capable of it, but the look on Lapis's face was worth the risk of failure. She seemed so excited as she fished her phone from her pocket, as she connected it as best she could to a wire coming out of P3R1's neck. She began to talk a thousand words a minute. She wanted P3R1 to make a simulation, a very specific one. One of her living peacefully, away from the world, by herself. How would her life go? Would she be happy? How would she die? The answer wasn't pretty. Her life would be full of sorrow, loneliness, bitterness, and eventually death. P3R1 could see her heart sink, her once excited eyes were almost in tears again. Thinking quickly, P3R1 made a new simulation. In this reality, Lapis and P3R1 were living as roommates. P3R1, was a human in this simulation, she was the hologram she used, all that time ago. Lapis watched their lives unfold together on the screen, their laughs, their sorrows, their age, and their deaths. In this simulation, they lived happy lives together, and didn't regret a moment of it.

Lapis looked up from her phone at P3R1. Her eyes were filled with tears, she looked confused. P3R1 gave her the most re-assuring smile she could. Lapis matched her smile, then leaned forward, and gave the green robot a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you" she whispered, before getting up and leaving.

(So, that's chapter 5 done.

When I'm done with this story, I have two ideas left. I'm going to make a poll on my profile, if you'd like to help choose what I do next, please do check it out. Thank you again for reading, have a nice day!)


	6. Chapter 6 Filled with chaos

(Greetings everyone!

So, I told a few people that there wouldn't be as much death in this story as my others. I'm going to have to backtrack on that statement, sorry. A lot of people are about to die, tragically.

Anyways, here's the next chapter. Please do check the poll I made on my profile to help with what I make once this one is completed. Thank you all so much for reading!)

It was on the tenth day that the world ended. The armada came from the sky, the spies activated, and humanity could only watch and struggle as the alien force descended on it. There was, however, a sliver of light in the darkness. The deadline for the Crystal Gem's project had been pushed back four days. The armada was facing a resistance that it hadn't anticipated. The Crystal Gems had their suspicions, and Garnet confirmed. The Diamond Authority was fighting back against the alien invasion. The Crystal Gems' sworn enemy was unknowingly buying them some time to save Beach City, maybe even the world. Even with this extension, the Crystal Gems wanted to execute their plan now, to stop as much bloodshed as possible. So, in the middle of the day, in the middle of their back yard, the Crystal Gems set up their Frankenstein's monster of a machine. It was mainly grey and green, as it was primarily made from pieces of P3R1, and the grey hand ship. It vaguely resembled a radar dish, but seemed like a light gust of wind could take it apart.

P3R1 was still in the garage, a long cable linked her with the machine. She was franticly writing code to make it work, her corrupted files weren't making it any easier. The message they intended to send went along the lines of 'Human secret weapon, abort mission.', but with more details, lies, and reasons to leave, all made by P3R1. The Crystal Gems were all standing around the machine, either doing final checks, or preparing for if it went wrong. Pearl was fiddling with the wires that were exposed, making them more stream lined, and less of a tripping hazard. Amethyst was sitting on a lawn chair in the corner, playing a game on her phone. Garnet was carrying a crate into the garage, that she dropped, and opened. It was position in a way that P3R1 could only just see what was in it. It was filled with several black hand guns. A quick database search showed that they were all classified as 'GLOCK' class pistols. Garnet took one, loaded it, then put it in a holster hidden by her black leather jacket. P3R1 said nothing, she didn't question where she got them, or why she had them. It was the end of the world, after all.

Finally, at three in the afternoon, they were ready to begin. The group all crowded around P3R1, and waited, as she sent the signal, and waited for a response. It should have taken only a couple of seconds to get the message to the armada, but P3R1 kept having to jump through hoops for the corrupted files. It took a while, but the message finally got through. Now all they had to wait for a reply.

It was late the next day when they finally got a reply, and it sent a chill through the bones of every human present, and through the circuits of P3R1. The armada interpreted the message as there being a weapon in Beach City, that caused the grey hand ship to crash, so, they all turned away from their attacks against the rest of the planet, and were ordered to converge on the small coastal town. In twenty-three hours, the armada would be upon them, and the Crystal Gems would all most certainly be killed.

Lapis spent four hours after the reply sitting in the garage with P3R1, watching and rematching the simulation of them living happily together. She sat there, staring at the screen, smiling like she was imagining it for herself. It was obvious to the green and yellow robot head that this woman had been through something, something very traumatic. She didn't probe into her life, it didn't matter either way. They were both going to die in less than a day, even less for P3R1, as her newest predictions calculated. When Lapis began to look like she could fall asleep right then and there, P3R1 cut the simulation, and told her she needed her rest. She seemed too tired to argue, the dark bags under her eyes were so big. She got up, and left, leaving P3R1 alone.

P3R1 was about to see what she could do about her corrupted files again, when she realised that Lapis's phone was still connected to her. There was little she could do, so the phone stayed there, dangling from a cable.

The next morning was filled with chaos. The Crystal Gems did everything, from planning, to building, and hoping. They made sure there were no people in at least the surrounding houses. Thankfully, most people had cleared out of the town. They also salvaged the machine, and P3R1's arm that wasn't turned into a gun, creating a dome shield, that encompassed the house and the garage. The three-remaining finger from the used hand were placed in a triangle shape around the house, and a faint yellow hemisphere flickered to life.

The plan was quite simple. The shield would be used to protect the weak and young, that meant P3R1, Steven, and Lapis were inside the house. The rest of the Crystal Gems were in neighbouring houses, with several guns and weapons each. Pearl had an ornate spear, that seemed over a century old. Amethyst had a crude whip, made from barbed wire and leather. Garnet had two big metal gauntlets, which seemed to be a mix of medieval and modern technology. Lapis didn't have a weapon, so she used P3R1's arm, the one that was converted into a gun. Steven had an ornate pink and bronze coloured shield made from a strange variety of metals, unlike anything P3R1 had seen before. Apparently, it had once belonged to his mother.

P3R1 was certain that the presence of the shield would draw the forces of the armada to the house, so the Crystal Gems altered their tactics. Lapis and P3R1 would stay in the shield, and act as a diversion. Amethyst and Garnet would spring a trap outside the protection of the shield, while Pearl would escort Steven to a place that they knew that would be safe, at the very edge of town, just below the hill. P3R1 tried to calculate the chances of Steven surviving this, but the corruption was getting worse, so she kept her mouth shut, and let the people around her keep their hope.

It was mid-day when it happened. The sky was calm blue, then it wasn't. A tint of orange rose from the forest side of the town, went high up into the sky, then crashed down into the ocean, far out from the shores of Beach City. In the distance, hovering on the ocean, over two dozen massive ships moved quickly. Some were in the shape of hands and arms, other were balls, and some were other bizarre shapes.

The ships slowed down when they reached the orange field, it seemed to the Crystal Gems that they couldn't get through it, but P3R1 knew better. The first ship, a massive white arm, slowly melded through the orange wall of energy, which crackled in response, sparks of orange energy shot up and down the arm. The rest of the armada followed, the field seemed to weaken for a moment as all of them passed through it. They kept moving, until the formed line, hovering over the beach on both sides of Beach City. For a painful minute, they simply stayed there, unmoving. P3R1 could hear the signals going between them. They were finalising their plans, the minor details, the troop formations, and so many more things, all at once. P3R1 could barely keep track of them, her corruption was getting closer to being done. She couldn't calculate it anymore, but she knew she had hours to live. She was beginning to find it hard to think straight, and she was beginning to hallucinate in all her senses. She kept her mouth shut about it though. Lapis didn't need to know that right now.

With a sickening thud that could be heard all the way at the garage, all the ships of the armada landed at once. With no hesitation, troops poured out of them, a tidal wave of grey and orange. They moved quickly through the streets, heading directly for the house. The closer they got, the more of them broke off into smaller groups, taking up more tactical positions, behind cars and buildings. Garnet was squatting on the balcony of a house across the street from the shielded house containing Lapis and P3R1. She saw the positions of the troops, without being seen herself. She took note of which cars the troops were closest to, then she slowly moved over to a set of make shift switches and transmitters. She flicked a few, and waited.

Even from the small hut at the very edge of town, below the hill, Steven could feel the explosions. It was one room, poorly made, and had only the most basic of furniture. Steven sat on the lone chair, while Pearl paced around the room. It was as if the explosion wasn't real to her, she just kept pacing, and pacing. She began to twirl her spear as she walked, it was obvious she was in deep thought. Steven just sat there, feeling miserable. He wanted to go and help his friends, but knew there was nothing he could do.

Amethyst walked out onto the street, observing the dead alien soldiers, and the burning cars that were their demise. She almost felt sorry for them. They didn't even get a chance to fight. It seemed like they all were dead, and the coast was clear, for now, so she continued to walk, her whip trailing behind her, like a spiky tail. She stopped at the corner of the block, and looked back down the street. She saw the shielded house, the energy crackling, she saw a few homes up in flames opposite the protected one. She began to scan the nearby houses, looking for a good new position to sit in. The last house she sat in was one of the ones up in flames, and she reckoned she could find a better spot. She saw Garnet, waving at her, but she couldn't hear what she was saying. The sounds of the flickering fires drowned out everything. She closed her eyes. It was kind of peaceful. She took a deep breath, and reflected on her current position. It was the end of the world, she was trapped with the majority of the invading force, and it was almost certain that she'd be killed. So why did she feel so at peace right now? She realised, a lot of stuff that had been stressing her out recently didn't matter anymore. She'd let them go, and she felt way better. She smiled, thinking of all the problems and worries flying away, like butterflies.

Something cut through the sound of the flames. It was in Amethyst's ears in an instant, and it sounded her doom. She heard the thudding of many, many heavy footsteps. Her eyes shot open, and she saw. She saw a new battalion of soldiers, filling the street in front of her. She didn't even get a chance to fight, she had a hole through her chest before she could blink, and was dead before she hit the pavement.

Garnet cursed from her hiding spot. Amethyst died way sooner than she had anticipated. Tears began to form in her eyes, but she wiped them out. She had a job to do. The soldiers kept moving towards the shielded house, unmoved by the sight of their dead and burning allies. They kept marching and marching until they surrounded the ground level house that Garnet was hiding in, a wall of grey and orange, with no escape. She didn't have to question it, they were there for her. She slipped off her bracelets, kissed them both, and put them down. She thought of her mothers as she put her gauntlets on, and moved into a defensive stance, as she heard the door being broken down.


	7. Chapter 7 Goodbye To a World

(Greetings everyone!

So, this is it. The final chapter! I hope you've all enjoyed reading my stories, as much as I've enjoyed making them.

Look, I know how weird this one has been, believe me, I do. The reason it's so, different, is that it was majorly inspired by two songs. If you'd like to hear them, please, PM me and I'll give you them both, or, if enough people want to hear them, I'll just add them to the end of this chapter. Please do tell me if there's anything I can do to improve in the future, and check out the poll I made on my profile to help choose what stories I write next. I really do love to hear all of your thoughts on what I do, it makes it feel that much more worthwhile. Thank you all again, this wouldn't have been created if it wasn't for all of your support.)

An alien stood at the door of the house. It seemed more important than the others, its grey uniform was more decorative, and it stood taller than them. They bowed, and did something that could only be assumed to be a salute, as their commander walked past them. It had to bend over to get through the door frame, but the ceiling inside was high enough for it to stand at its full, menacing height. It silently strode to a small group of soldiers, crowding around a corner. They turned, bowed, and left when it got close. The scene they revealed, was most gruesome. The woman's hair was long and dark, she was tall, almost as tall as the average alien soldier. She wore black, metal gauntlets, which where caked in alien blood. She wore blue jeans, a black leather jacket, and a shirt once white, now red. She wore a visor, with a large crack, which almost broke the thing in two. She was sitting in the corner, facing the room, being propped up by the meeting walls behind her. Her chest raised slightly, then lowered, then raised, then lowered. It was slow, but she was breathing, for now. She raised her head, and looked the alien in the eye. It was almost a minute of silence, a contest of fortitude between the two. The woman deep breath in, dropped her head, and then breathed out. Her final breath was filled with pain and sadness. The commander didn't move, didn't react at all to the human woman's death. It took another minute, just staring at the corpse. Whether it was making sure she was dead, or revelling in its victory, no one could be sure. Once it was satisfied, it left the small house, and observed the attack on the shielded home, where the last defenders where hiding. Soldiers surrounded it, in a semi-circle, firing at it with energy weapons, which seemed to have an effect. Eventually, the shield would fall, and the last humans would die.

Lapis sat next to a window in the second level of the house, trying her hardest to look out at the enemy, without being seen. There were so many of them, and she was all alone now. She'd seen them pour into the house that Garnet had been in, she saw Amethyst die in the street. In fact, she could still see the short girl's body, un touched by the invaders. Lapis grabbed her weapon, P3R1's arm, converted into a hand help weapon. It was hard for her to hold, she had to use her right arm to prop the gun up, and use her left hand to pull the trigger. She was right handed, so it made it much more difficult to use. She reached into her pocket to grab her phone and check the time, but found that it was missing. She raced through her memories to find it, and realised it was in the garage, still connected to P3R1. She sighed, knowing it didn't matter if she had her phone or not, she'd die the same either way.

She was about to leave the room, and find a better angle, when she noticed a small group of the aliens where kneeling at a point in the shield. Her eyes widened. It was a spot where they put one of P3R1's fingers. She saw one of them reach down, and grab something. The moment its arm began to raise, the shield began to shiver, and when it fully pulled away from the position, the shield dropped entirely.

Lapis was firing out the window, at the aliens, before she even realised it. It was hard to aim at first, but she got used to it. Her first shot took out the group that took the finger, the second barely missed the front row of soldiers, who had only just realised the shield was down. She kept firing, adrenaline pumping through her system. The soldiers found cover, and began firing back. Their energy weapons left burn marks all around the window she sat at. She had to admit, P3R1's arm blaster was extremely powerful. She kept shooting, hoping for something to happen, anything, that could help her. Then, something happened.

The bolt of energy tore its way through her right shoulder, searing flesh as it moved. She toppled off the chair she was sitting on, and stifled a scream. She was in agony, lying on the floor. With another muffled scream, she got back on the chair, grabbed the arm again, and started firing. She was sweating heavily now, from the heat of the gun, and the pain in her shoulder. The alien army was frantic, trying to find cover, and call for reinforcements. In their mad fumble, many of them died. They had severely underestimated the Crystal Gems, and their ability to be a thorn in their enemies' side.

Lapis knew something was wrong when the blasts of energy that P3R1's arm was firing had become larger, and more destructive. It was at this time that she also noticed the sheer heat coming from her weapon. She stopped to observe its condition. The fingers were turning yellow, and smoke was faintly coming out of a few of them. She began to question what would happen if she kept firing, and if it would explode or something. Then, it exploded.

It was a lucky shot from an enemy Lapis hadn't even seen. It ripped into the front plate of the arm, burnt its way through the circuitry, then came out the other end. It erupted in green flames, engulfing Lapis's room in its heat. She was thrown back, the angle she was holding it saved her from the majority of the force.

Lapis shook her head, trying to get rid of the whining in her ears. When it finally passed, and she got her bearing back, she noticed just how on fire her room was, and how singed her face and hair was. Her whole life was being destroyed around her, yet she felt nothing. She knew she probably should feel something for the place she's lived, but she just couldn't, it didn't matter to her. She winced in pain as she tried to stand up, and fell back down when she noticed the piece of green metal sticking out of her right thigh. She couldn't muffle her yells of pain, it was just too much. She lied there for a few minutes, screaming, consumed with the awful amounts of agony she was in. She started to breathe heavily and quickly, tears flowing freely from her eyes. An image of P3R1 flashed into her mind, helpless, afraid, and surrounded by the enemy. That was all Lapis needed, she was crawling out of her inferno of a room in moments.

P3R1 could hear the explosion, barely. Her corruption was almost complete, she could barely hear, she could barely see, she was sure she could barely speak either, not that she had tried recently. She was focusing on not falling into the whining, the static, the numbness of the corruption. It was getting difficult, she could barely think clearly. That's why she didn't even notice the explosion, she thought it might just be a hallucination, or as close as a robot could get to one. She doubted this theory when several minutes later, she heard the door open, and a body hit the floor. It sounded too lifelike, too accurate to be a glitch. The bloody arm, clawing itself and its body towards her, the blue and red hair of the girl's head slowly sliding into view. P3R1 was sure now that this wasn't fake.

"L-L-L-Lapis… what happ-pp-ppened to you-uo?" She said, her voice was broken, and static almost overwhelmed the words she tried to speak. The blue-haired girl looked at her, and smiled. "You're ok."

The robot head smiled, she admired how selfless Lapis was. The girl pulled herself forward even more. It took a minute or two, but she eventually reached her, leaving a long, bloody trail.

"I'm sorry" she said. "If I had just talked to you, when I first saw you, we might have been living a better life.."

"N-N-N-N-No! Lapis, I'm tha-tha-thankful that you didn't. I wou-ou-ouldn't have learnt the beauty of this w_rld if you had. Even though it's the end of the wor-or-or-orld, don't blame yourse-e-e-e-lf, it wouldn't have en-en-ended any better…"

Lapis seemed to think of her friend's words for a moment, either that or she was feeling light headed from the blood loss. Her skin was much paler than it usually was, her eyes seemed to wonder a bit, she couldn't keep her head up quite as easily as a person should. P3R1 could tell, she was on her way out. She couldn't just sit there and let her die, feeling only the pain of her worries, of her failures. So, P3R1 did what she knew Lapis was like. The only thing P3R1 could do at this point. She created a simulation.

Lapis sat there, feeling woozy from the blood loss, but happy that P3R1 was still safe. She tried her best to focus on her robot friend's eyes, but she found her thoughts wondering, her mind drifting off. A flicker of light from below the green metal head caught her attention. Her phone, it was still attached to P3R1, and was re-running the world she'd seen before, of her living happily with human P3R1. With weak hands, she reached out, and held on to the phone. She noticed the glitches in the screen, the errors, the missing textures, etc., but she didn't care. She was dying, after all.

She had no idea how long she'd watched it for, time was a concept she didn't seem to grasp anymore. The simulation had gotten to the point that it was unwatchable, so Lapis looked to P3R1, which was an achievement in itself. She smiled, and the head smiled back. She whispered, for she didn't have the strength to do anymore. "Thank you"

P3R1 watched her, the light leaving her eyes. She had to say something, she was moments from death too. She had to mention something, anything that could comfort her. Then, she knew what she wanted, no, had to say. "Lapis Lazuli-i-i, I l-l-l-looooooo….."

(So, that's the end! Check out the poll on my profile so you can help choose what story I write next! See you all then!)


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